Almost Easy

The weekend had come, much to my relief. Brian had talked me into attending a party the Avenged crowd was hitting up. I was reluctant to agree but considering all of the favors Brian had done for me, I’d be an asshole to decline.
I was waiting for Brian, marveling at my reflection. The colour in my face had finally started to returning and I’d been tending to the dark circles beneath my eyes. Sleep was finally starting to come in bigger waves. I guess I was starting to heal.
It didn’t always feel that way.
Tyler’s letter was still on the table where I’d left it. I still hadn’t been able to bring myself to read the contents. Brian had asked about it but didn’t pry any further once I’d told him what it was. It was a heavy little envelope and I still wasn’t strong enough to lift it.
Finally, Brian arrived. Maybe I should have been grateful for the time away from my apartment, it meant less time alone with that fucking letter.
“God damn,” Brian grinned at me. “You’re hot as hell, you know that?”
“So you keep saying,” I blushed.
“Ready to go?”
I nodded, giving one last look at myself in the mirror, “As I’ll ever be.”
The cab ride was mostly quiet—I really didn’t like to have personal conversations in front of strangers. Something about it made me really panicky. Another anxiety quirk, I guess.
“Um, miss?” the cab driver squeaked just as I was about to hop out of the car.
I looked back at him curiously.
“I’m so sorry to bother you but you are a singer in a band, aren’t you?”
I smiled, “You’re not bothering me. But yes.”
“I thought so!” he beamed. “My daughter loves you so much. She cuts your pictures out of all the magazines. She never stops talking about you.”
My cheeks blushed rose, “That’s sweet.”
It was also kind of creepy but that’s just not what you say to people.
“Do you think you could sign something for her? She would be so happy!”
“Sure,” I shrugged. “What did you want me to sign?”
Brian watched me adoringly as I scribbled my name and some lame message onto our driver’s log book’s front page. I wondered if he’d get into trouble for ripping it out of the book later. Oh well.
“Thank you!” he was so fucking happy.
“Any time,” I waved. “Thank you for the ride.”
I shut the cab door on my way out and met up with Brian’s gaze. He was smirking at me like an idiot. It made me uncomfortable, so I started to walk ahead of him.
“You’re nice, huh?” he cooed at me.
I lowered my brows at him, “Don’t tell anybody.”
He laughed, swinging an arm across my shoulders, “I love that you did that. That was really cool of you.”
“What was I going to do, say no?” I asked seriously. “I’m not that big of a bitch.”
He pulled me into him, nearly tripping me as he walked, “Nah, you’re just really fucking cool.”
We were let into the party right away. There were people wearing deathbats everywhere. An interesting sight, to say the least.
“Syn!” a couple guys I didn’t recognize shouted, throwing their arms straight into the air.
One rushed over and stole Brian from me, “The man of the hour!”
Brian was quiet but smiling. I felt immediately out of place.
But Brian wasn’t an asshole either so he pushed his way back to me, promising the strangers that he’d catch up with them in a while. He lead me on a path toward faces I did recognize.
“What is this?” I asked quietly as we walked.
Brian closed on eye at me, scrunching up his face, “It might be our album release party.”
“Brian!” I smacked him in the chest. “Oh, it’s just a casual party—no big deal. Are you kidding?”
He laughed devilishly, “It’s fine! I thought you liked surprises!”
Jimmy didn’t look at me once we’d finally made it to the table. Brian was shooting a very warning look at his lanky friend. It kind of bummed me out that Jimmy and my friendship would have to cool it for a while to appease Brian’s anger.
“Hey guys,” Brian pointed at me, “Do you remember Blair?”
“Of course we do,” Matt smiled, “how’s it going?”
“I’m alright,” I answered awkwardly; I didn’t know how much he knew.
“I’ve never met her,” a man I knew to be Zacky Vengeance groaned to Brian. “So how could I remember her?”
Johnny nudged him in the ribs.
“I’m Zach,” he said to me after swatting at Johnny. “Brian never shuts the fuck up about you.”
“Dude,” Brian choked.
“What? You don’t,” Zach shrugged, returning to his beer.
“I hear you stole our boy to record the other day,” Matt said to me as I slid into the booth seat across from him. “Did he do us proud?”
I nodded, “Always.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” Matt winked at Brian.
Jimmy was uncomfortable next to me. He made obviously efforts not to look at me. I pouted at Brian, nodding subtly to Jimmy. Brian smirked.
“Jimmy,” Brian said loudly. “The fuck are you doing?”
“Behaving,” Jimmy grunted, still not looking in our direction.
Brian laughed, “You’re going to snap your fucking neck.”
“I don’t want to get in trouble,” Jimmy said with a frown in his voice.
Matt leaned closer to me, “What’s this?”
I pretended like I didn’t know but Jimmy whipped around and ratted me out.
“I may or may not have kissed Blair in a drunken and incredibly high stupor,” Jimmy said, twirling his wrists as he spoke. “Now Brian wants to beat me up.”
“How many times do we have to tell you,” Johnny groaned, “You can’t kiss peoples’ girlfriends.”
The group laughed, including Brian much to my relief.
“Are you still mad at me?” Jimmy asked me with sad puppy dog eyes.
I shook my head, “I was never mad at you. How could I be mad at that face?”
“It is a nice face,” Jimmy nodded.
“Right,” Brian announced, “now that all is right with the table—I need a beer.”
“And a drink for Blair,” I added.
“And a round of drinks for Blair!” Brian echoed.
“It’s the only way he’s going to get laid,” Zach said from the other end of the table. “Poor girl has to get rip roaring.”
“It’s a real issue,” I frowned.
They laughed again. I was good at this.
Brian kissed my check before he left, enduring all of the jokes and harassment from his peers. I felt like an animal in a cage the second the Brian was gone.
“So, Brian says you’re going on tour soon,” Matt said.
I nodded, “Yeah, North America. Four months.”
“That’s awesome!” Johnny exclaimed. “We love to tour. It’s when all the hijinks happen.”
Jimmy whispered to me, “They’re trouble on tour. Big trouble.”
Saint Jimmy though. I couldn’t argue with him.
“I’m really sorry about your friend,” Matt pulled his lips to one side of his face. “Brian told us a bit about it. That fucking sucks.”
Really wished I had a drink in that moment.
“It does suck,” I agreed.
“Probably sucks more having people bring it up all the fucking time,” Johnny said flatly.
Matt cringed, “Fuck. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I forced a smile. “I appreciate the condolence.”
“He taking care of you?” Matt continued. “Brian?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
Zach and Johnny exchanged ooh’s.
“Guys,” Jimmy groaned. “Inappropriate.”
Matt shook his head, turning back to me, “Anyway…we were talking. These fuckers and I.”
The group exchanged looks, everyone seeming to know what was happening but me. Brian returned with drinks then and the mood kind of changed.
“Good timing,” Jimmy snorted to Brian who looked just as confused as me.
“What’re we talking about?” Brian asked as he slid next to me and placed two green drinks in front of me.
“You,” Matt shrugged.
“Oh cool, what about me?”
I sipped at my drink—god damn was it tart. My face obviously showed this. Brian smirked.
“It’s a whiskey sour,” he told me. “I hear they’re good.”
“Are they?” I wheezed. “I couldn’t tell.”
He laughed.
“We were talking,” Matt said again, the first time for Brian’s ears. “About your tour, Blair.”
“Oh?” I mused, sipping again at my incredibly sour drink. “What about it?”
“Brian here says you don’t have a guitarist,” Matt replied simply.
I shook my head, still grimacing from the lime, “No, not at the moment. We’re talking about hiring someone to play lead before we leave.”
“What if you didn’t have to?” Matt asked, a smirk brewing on his face.
The group all had the same look to them—except Brian. He looked like I did: what?
“We think you should take Brian,” Matt said finally, cluing in that Brian and I were both still in the dark.
“On tour?” I choked.
Jimmy nudged me, “Think of all the sexy time you could have. Sweaty men everywhere, cramped bus…oh, the bliss.”
I dismissed Jimmy and looked to Brian who seemed to actually be thinking about it. He had a specific reflective look to him once he really got into deep thought. It was sexy as hell. All broody and shit.
I digress.
“Why not?” Matt shrugged.
Johnny piped in, “We don’t have a hell of a lot in the works right now. Album’s coming out tomorrow, no tour’s for us until way later this year. We won’t have to put up with him for a couple months.”
“It’s a win-win,” Matt added.
“Please Blair,” Jimmy begged dramatically. “Please take him. Think of the children!”
“Would you shut up?” I laughed, pushing my hand over Jimmy’s mouth.
Brian finally spoke, “Yeah.”
Yeah?
“Sorry, what was that?” Zach teased. “That had no merit in this conversation at all. Drunk already, Synny? That’s cute.”
Johnny added smugly, “I remember my first beer.”
“Shut up,” Brian hissed. “Yeah, to the tour.”
“You want to tour with my band?” I said, half of me in disbelief.
He shrugged, “Why not? Eliminates the you leaving problem.”
“That’s not a good reason to come on tour with my band,” I said seriously but with a laugh.
He shrugged again, “I like your music. I like you. You guys need a guitarist. I am a guitarist. I just don’t see the problem here.”
“No problem,” I said right away. “You seriously want to come?”
He laughed, “Yes, crazy lady. I really want to come.”
“I’ll, uh…I’ll talk to the band then I guess,” I was still in shock.
“Ding dong!” Jimmy wailed. “The Syn is gone!”
The men joined in a chorus of dramatic cheering and cheers-ing. They were vary dramatic in their entertainment, I’d give them that.
Brian didn’t seem to notice. He was only noticing me.
“I kind of like you,” I grinned. “You know that?”

Notes

One more for the day because why not ;)

xx